FOR THE AIRMEN Katharine Tynan Katharine Tynan was born into a large Irish farming family. Educated at a convent school she played a major part in Irish literary circles and was a close associate of William Butler Yeats with whom she conducted a lengthy correspondence; she herself was a prolific writer of novels and poetry. Stella Wolfe Murray found this poem in Windsor magazine and included it in her anthology “The Poetry of Flight”, published in 1925. Thou who guidest the swallow and wren, Keep the paths of the flying men, Over the mountains, over the seas, Thou hast given the bird-folk compasses. Thou guidest them, yea, Thou leadest them home By the trackless ways and the venturesome. Look Thou, then, on these bird-men, far More than the sparrows and swallows are. When they fly in the wintry weather, Be their compass and chart together. Keep them riding the wind. Uphold Their passion of flight lest it grow cold. Thy right hand be under the wing, Thy left hand for their steadying. The wings of the birds of Heaven be nigh, Lest their wings fail them and they die. Make Thou their flying as deft and fleet As the flight of the linnet or the blue tit. Thy hand over them, shall they fear The spears of lightning or any spear? Thy hands under them, what shall appal? Not the fierce foe nor the sudden fall. Show them Thy moon at night: Thy stars Bid stand as sentinels in their wars. Yes, make their lone tracks pleasant as A soft meandering path in grass. Thou that launchest the wren, the swallow, Guard our flying loves when they follow. Katharine Tynan, 1859 – 1931.